The Charlemagne Murders

by Douglass, Carl;

  -Remove the mixture from the heat and let cool completely. Place the squash in a jar and cover with the syrup and a lid. May refrigerate for up to 2 wks. Serve with a tray of meats, cheeses, and olives as a snack, as part of a predinner appetizer, or as a dessert course with fruit, nuts, and cheeses.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  Police Station 28, San Carlos de Bariloche, Rio Negro Province, Argentina, 1900 hours, August 26, 1962

  Former SS Hauptsturmführer Erich Boehme strutted into the conference room as if he were there to assume the helm as the new commander of the installation. Hencke, de Corsos, and police chief Carriz-Mueller, stood up in respect to greet the old unrepentant Nazi. It galled the two visiting police officers no end to have to accord the old butcher such tokens of respect. They considered his hubris to be an affront. If they had their way, he would be in prison or awaiting the hangman. The reality of the situation was–however–that they needed the information he could give them. They had to convince him in their first few sentences that it was in his best interest to help in the murder investigation of Hörst Dietsel, aka Carlos Aguillara-Dominguez. They were well aware that it would be a difficult sell to convince the crafty old SS man to divulge anything after so many years in hiding. To add sting to the police officers’ agitated psyches, they had to break bread with the man and to serve him from the fine lunch they had ordered to be catered for the local Bariloche policemen.

  “Thank you for dropping by,” Chief Carriz-Mueller said, to start the interview.

  “I understand that you three seek justice for the murder of one of my countrymen, a former German officer who acquitted himself with honor during the time of the Third Reich. If that is truly the case, then I will do my best to help. If … however … if this is some sort of ruse to inveigle me into a plot to assist the despicable Untermenschen [subhuman] Judenschwein [Jewpigs] to pull off another Adolf Eichmann kidnapping—only two years ago, mind you—then I will see right through you in an instant; and I will be gone. The Jewsows have murdered over a thousand of us to date, and there will be no more if I have anything to do with it. Do we have an understanding?”

  “As we said earlier in the day, Hauptsturmführer, our only aim is to find and punish the murderer of Hörst Dietsel,” Henckel said.

  “I will give you the benefit of the doubt.”

  “Thank you. Now kindly answer a few questions for us. Did you know Dietsel personally?”

  “As a passing acquaintance. We met and passed the time of day at a few Argentinian-German celebrations. We were not intimates.”

  “Are … or were you aware of Dietsel’s wartime activities?”

  “I was. He acquitted himself well in his work for the cause.”

  “Do you know anyone or any group that might know of the real identity of Carlos Aguillara-Dominguez? Anyone still living that knew him during his service to the Third Reich? Or anyone who associated with him in his escape from the Jews and Americans and his coming to the Provincias Unidas del Río de la Plata [United Provinces of the Silver River]?”

  That loving reference to the original name of their country put Boehme more at ease.

  “I will answer your questions. First, let us concentrate on those who might bear him ill will. There were many SS officers who were assisted by the ODESSA. Of course, that help came at a price since it was a costly venture to bring together everything and everyone who was needed. I recall a certain IG Farben chemist who was somehow able to usurp the position in the queue waiting for placements in Germany. As I recall, he was named Heinrich Rudolf Gajewski. There was great resentment against him, and more than once I heard Herr Dietsel swear a vendetta against the man. I also know that the leaders of the ODESSA quietly took Dietsel aside and warned him to keep his mouth shut because he had made Gajewski into an enemy, and Gajewski had powerful friends who would not hesitate to erase him—Dietsel—if anything happened to Gajewski. There were several others whose opportunity to go to Argentina was lost because of Gajewski’s and Dietsel’s connivings. Strangely enough, they were senior SS officers who were French part of the Führer’s special guard at the last. They were superb officers and loyalists, but they considered themselves to have been betrayed by several men who made it to Argentina, including Dietsel. I may get the names a bit wrong here, but I am sure of the ranks. All of them were Hitler’s Gauls—part of the 33rd Waffen Grenidier Division of the SS. I have to say that they probably hold me at least partly responsible for what happened to them: they were captured by the vile Russians and sent off to the gulags. Probably died there.”

  “Are you sure of that?”

  “No, but from what I have been told, less than a handful survived. It is also possible that the few wretched survivors may still be rotting up there in the frozen north.”

  “Do you recall any of their names, Herr Boehme?”

  “A few come to mind—just the higher ranks. I recall Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS Antoine Duvalier, Oberführer der Waffen-SS Michaele Dupont, Waffen SS-Obersturmbannführer Serge Alain Rounsavall, Waffen SS-Sturmbannführer Jérôme Beauchamp, Waffen SS-Hauptsturmführer Jérôme Christophe Mailhot, Obersturmführer SS Jacob Friedrich Bunnemann, and Waffen SS-Sturmbannführer Jean Luc Latendresse. There were certainly a few more, but I regret to report that I am unable to recall any more names. Old age, I guess. These men I knew well and found them to be loyal men of respect.”

  Lieutenant de Corsos abruptly shifted the questions to another area, partly to keep Boehme off his stride.

  “Thank you for your help with those names. We know you to be a successful man of the world and have some knowledge of people of importance in all walks of life, Hauptsturmführer. Perhaps you could help us with an area where we are largely excluded.”

  “It is true that I have a wide circle of family, friends, and associates. How can I assist you?”

  “We are aware that important clergy from the Church, associates of Cosa Nostra, russkaya mafiya”—de Corsos deliberately used the Russian term to convey to Boehme that the police were working with precise knowledge—“some quasi-legitimate businessmen, and other organized criminal elements have been instrumental in aiding the ODESSA or helping individual patriots get to safety. Our sources suggest these organizations may be involved. Could you put some thought into that area and come up with some names, sir?”

  Boehme paused before answering, wondering whether or not this line of questioning could lead to him, his friends, or organizations he supported.

  “I want careful assurances on this, Officers.”

  “We repeat that we will treat everything you tell us with the same rigor as the confessional.”

  “All right; first, the clergy: all of the priests connected with the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Buenos Aires—Bishop Manuel Ortega-Rodriguez from the archdiocese of Rio Negro and Abbot Francoise Hercule and the brothers at the Mount of the Trinity Abbey in Monasterio Benedictino Santa María. Second, Corsican syndicate: almost any Mafioso or gang might be involved, but I am sure of three members—Benedettu Paganucci, Dominic Rizzuto, and Tony Lagomarsino. There have been some ODESSA dealings with Russian Mafiosos from a city called Yelizovo [a town in Kamchatka Krai, Russia].”

  De Corsos nodded his understanding and made a strong mental note to pursue the Yelizovo lead further.

  “Thank you, Herr Hauptsturmführer. Would it be possible for you to introduce us to any of the people you have named? That would be a very useful assist in our investigation and a favor that we would not forget.”

  “Although I have considerable influence and am held in a high level of respect in several communities in Argentina, Germany, and abroad, I do not have authority to order anyone to talk to you; and they are not at all likely to communicate willingly with police, intelligence officers, or anyone asking questions that even hint of an interest in the ODESSA. If I were to do so, I would become one of the desaparecidos [disappeared ones]—a permanent situation, if you understand my meaning.”

  “We
do,” said Henckel, “and we certainly do not have any wish to bring harm to you. If you think of anything else that might assist our investigation, please give us a call. We will treat any and all such communications with the utmost level of security.”

  Boehme nodded and stood up to leave.

  “I am an enemy of anyone who seeks to find or to harm meine Brüder [my brethren]. I will quietly listen and encourage conversation. Should I learn anything, I will contact you. It is possible that I will learn something that will demand immediate attention, and my comrades-in-arms will be obliged to attend to that. I may have to contact you after the fact. You understand.”

  “Yes, sir. But we would prefer to have the police handle such things. For one thing, our involvement would put you at arms length and remove you from danger of reprisal. Bear that in mind, Mein Herr.”

  After Boehme left, Henckel and de Corsos discussed what they had learned thus far: there were more persons of interest than they could interview in a lifetime—if the subjects would even prove to be willing to talk to police officials. Everyone who had suggested a line of questioning or had proffered some names had an agenda of his or her own. Every direction of inquiry would lead to great and powerful organizations and individuals, none of whom would be likely to believe that the police had a limited scope of interest—that they were merely trying to catch a single murderer and not trying to stir up the Argentine–German–Jewish–Peronista hornets’ nests. No matter which direction they headed, they were going to run up against political, military, financial, and church self-interests that would likely provoke homicidal intentions. With the exception of the Jews and Israelis, the links among Argentina, the US, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Vatican, France, Spain, the Mafia, nationalists, and would-be dictators lived in the shadows; and anyone seeking to cast light into the dark corners would become a target. Any such quest would be suicidal.

  “We have a few leads we can pursue without overtly suggesting an involvement by the ODESSA, the Nazis, the American Paperclip operation, the church, the Allied atrocities or the knowing involvement of law enforcement so long as we keep our investigation aimed at individuals and not at organizations,” de Corsos said, more hopefully than with any certainty.

  “I think we can work from behind the scenes and use a surrogate that will keep us out of the direct light,” Henckel said. “I am pretty sure that we are not dealing with a single person with an overwhelming urge for revenge. My bet is that there are other killings and more than one killer.”

  “How do we find out about that? Are you suggesting that this may involve other cities, other police forces, even other countries?”

  “Could well be. I am on fairly good terms with INTERPOL. When they did some Nazi hunting in Argentina a couple of years back, I helped one of their agents track down a notorious concentration camp guard. We had an agreement to keep the Mossad out and to make it a French affair since the froggies seemed to be the least threatening to Argentine interests at the time. I think INTERPOL will be willing to explore the question of whether or not this has international implications and to help us narrow the field down to a handful of real suspects.”

  He took a brief look at his notes.

  “We have some names to start with which should be fairly safe to investigate. We have heard about the Corsican syndicate: almost any Mafioso or gang might be involved, but I am sure of three members of the Corsican syndicate—Benedettu Paganucci, Dominic Rizzuto, and Tony Lagomarsino. The pope wants to put some distance between the church and the Nazis they helped; so, they might be willing to sacrifice a scapegoat or two—like the priests of Christ the Savior Cathedral in Buenos Aires, Bishop Manuel Ortega-Rodriguez from the archdiocese of Rio Negro, and Abbot Francoise Hercule and the brothers at the Mount of the Trinity Abbey in Monasterio Benedictino Santa María.

  “Boehme gave us the names of some French Nazi officers, and I would bet my hat that the ODESSA would not go to war over a few French SS criminals. We have Antoine Duvalier, Michaele Dupont, Serge Alain Rounsavall, Hugues Beauchamp, Jérôme Christophe Mailhot, Jacob Friedrich Bunnemann, and Jean Luc Latendresse from the 33rd Waffen-Grenadier SS Division to start with. We should be able to find out about them from the Allied POW records, maybe even from the Russians. We have a place to start. I’ll call Eugène Dentremont at the Lyon INTERPOL office to get us started. You give our German friends a call about the old Nazi Heinrich Rudolf Gajewski and about the West German criminals Anna Marie Lobos told us about—Fritzi Hoeltzel, Hänsel Stahlecker, and August Neubert. Maybe that will give us a back door look at the ODESSA and their connections with our Argentine Nazis without having our names be known, José.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  Le Bureau Central National (BCN) d’INTERPOL pour la France [The International Criminal Police Organization, or INTERPOL], Office of Senior Detective Chief Superintendent Eugène Léon Dentremont, 200 Quai Charles de Gaulle, 69006 Lyon, France, August 28, 1962

  The telephone line flashed yellow, indicating a call from a foreign nation. Office hours had officially begun only five minutes ago.

  “General Secretariat, INTERPOL, Criminal Information System. How may I direct your call?”

  “Please ring the office of the Senior Detective Chief Superintendent,” the voice asked in French with a German accent.

  “Yes, sir.”

  There was a two-minute wait.

  “Office of the Detective Chief Superintendent, Criminal Information System.”

  “I need to speak to Eugène Léon Dentremont, the senior chief superintendent, not just one of the detective chief superintendents. This is Adolf Henckel. I am the Inspector de Policia de la Provincia de Policía de Córdoba, Argentina. It is imperative that I speak to the senior detective … ahora! Give him my name, young lady.”

  “Would you repeat your name please, sir?”

  Henckel did and also spelled it out slowly.

  “One moment.”

  Henckel could hear loud voices coming over the line but could not make out what was being said. Thirty seconds passed.

  “Is this Adolf Henckel of the famous organized crime unit of Córdoba?”

  “Yes. I am in hopes that you remember the humble assistance our CID unit gave your INTERPOL investigative unit two or three years ago.”

  “I do, Adolf, my friend. You are too modest. Your unit was crucial in INTERPOL’s case against the Corsicans. I owe you. What can I do to repay you?”

  “I ask as a friend and a fellow law enforcement officer, Eugène, and not as someone seeking to even a score between us. Whatever you decide in the matter I put before you, my department stands ready to assist INTERPOL whenever needed.”

  INTERPOL had to tread lightly before deciding to pursue an international case. To keep INTERPOL as politically neutral as possible, its charter forbids it from undertaking interventions or activities of a political, military, religious, or racial nature or involving itself in disputes over such matters. As a result, its work focuses primarily on public safety and battling terrorism, crimes against humanity, environmental crime, genocide, war crimes, organized crime, piracy, illicit traffic in works of art, illicit drug production, drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, human trafficking, money laundering, child pornography, white-collar crime, computer crime, intellectual property crime, and corruption. An apparently straightforward murder case in Argentina would not seem to fit the mandate. However, Chief Inspector Dentremont was not always inclined to accept limitations, especially when he encountered a case that interested him.

  “I know that, old friend. Now what can I or my ICIS resources do for you?”

  “There has been a murder in Lomas de los Carolinos, one of the nicer neighborhoods in Córdoba. It was particularly gruesome.”

  “I recall the place. Lovely. And very German. Does my memory serve me correctly?”

  “Yes, and that is tied into the problem for which I am calling you, Eugène. May I explain?”

  “Please.”

  “A m
an named Carlos Aguillara-Dominguez here in Argentina is of German extraction—born Hörst Dietsel—he was murdered on a public street in the neighborhood on Friday, August 9th. An apparently homeless man sitting in the gutter suddenly stood up and attacked Señor Aguillara-Dominguez. The victim was decapitated. There were no witnesses.”

  “Of course not. There never seem to be any.”

  “There is a great fear about in the neighborhood because–in fact–the deceased is a prominent German, apparently one of those who emigrated from Europe at the end of the war.”

  “And that is always a problem for you and your fellow officers.”

  “Yes. We find ourselves tangled up with the country’s military, former Nazis, the government, Corsican mobsters, possibly with Sicilian and Russian Mafiosos, possibly the Church, and perhaps even the Mossad.”

  “That is a toxic stew my friend. What can INTERPOL do to help?”

  “I will give you a list of possible suspects—mind you, we have no evidence against any of them—and perhaps you can tell us more about them. We would like to know first off if they are even alive, if they are involved in crime, if such crime has anything to do with our victim, and who we can talk to to get us on the way to a solution. I do not need to caution you about the delicacy of this case. We are handling it with kid gloves.”

  “You can certainly count on our discretion, Adolf. What did you say the man’s German birth name was? I must have missed it.”

  “Mon dieu!” said Adolf. “My mind must be slipping. He was known as Hörst Dietsel before he showed up in Argentina. Please look into the man and his German connections. That will probably lead you to the ODESSA. Please be sure to leave out any mention of me or my department. I would likely become another police statistic—line of duty death—if my part becomes known.”